I recently watched Ralph Breaks The Internet. I was a bit surprised that in the princess scene, that they all act like bimbos, but honestly couldn’t remember any movie well enough for reference. So I thought that the movie was right, “this is what they were like, these princesses... “

Then Disny poked fun at the “you have to be saved by a man” cliche (main charachter’s eyes rolling) and I took it at face value, my mind drawing a blank. ”Yup, that was probably what it was like.”

Only that it’s not.

The other day, I rewatched the original, animated Aladdin. Jasmine is no pushover. She stands up for herself. She fights. She’s headstrong. She falls in love with a guy with good values.

Why make fun of that? Why wouldn’t that be values that you’d want to teach your kids today?

It's interesting that you talk about Williams "masking" dissonances, as if Williams was trapped into employing dissonances which he then tried to cover up by choosing the right instruments (probably not what you meant, but it sounds that way!). Of course, the opposite is really true - Williams mixes in the dissonance himself. However, rather than drawing attention on those very dissonances (as, for example, Boulez might...or "concert" JW might) he tends to treat dissonance as something like musical seasoning; to spice up what would otherwise be fairly dull, consonant music. One of the ways he does this is to do what sounds like "covering up" dissonance using the orchestra, which I guess is what you allude to. But, of course, this is just an illusion really. Every note you hear comes from the composer's pen, whether or not in the end they sound as if they are appearing out of nowhere, or as an "accident".

So what is JW's favourite spice? When it comes to brass, It is undeniably the minor 2nd interval between the 7th and 8th degrees of the scale (i.e. B-C in C major). JW would sooner jump off a bridge than not use this dissonance in a fanfare. Listen to the one that plays when Yoda raises the ship in TESB, which is in E major:

Now, somebody with an "untrained ear" might be surprised to know that when they are listening to the above, they are also listening to this:
https://picosong.com/whnva

These are the 7th and 8th degrees of the E major scale: D#-E.

JW uses a lot of this sort of dissonance in the E.T. flying theme (in C major):

Listening to this, one might naively think that the accompanying horns at the start are playing simple major chords (C-E-G, or 1st, 3rd and 5th degrees). But in fact, they are playing "add2" chords, i.e. chords with the 2nd degree added (D), so there is a dissonance between the C-D and the D-E. Later on, JW employs his beloved 7th-8th dissonance, at 0:20 (F#-G) and 0:25 (G-Ab). These dissonances on their own sound like they belong to a horror movie, not a feel-good family movie (though I grant that E.T. does contain some horrifying bits...). But when played by the brass in a certain range, these dissonances take on more of a "colouring" function, and you might miss these dissonances if you don't pay attention. However, take away these dissonances, and you take away an integral part of the whole. This is what I mean by JW using dissonances as "seasoning".

Now for something entirely different. Listen to the prologue music of HP1, when Dumbledore does...whatever he does:

Listen to that last chord at 1:15. Can you hear "it"? I made a mockup of this portion some years ago, where "it"'s clearer; listen to the high register from 0:17:
https://picosong.com/whnWd

Williams here is using the winds to apply a purely "colouristic" effect to the brass chord in the foreground.
This is what the wind chord sounds like on the piano:
https://picosong.com/whnvw

This is what the brass chord sounds like on the piano:
https://picosong.com/whnv3

By the way, Williams here is essentially recycling a technique he used in another film, TPM, where he used a similar wind chord. However, that time he used it in a much more dramatic manner, less as a purely colouristic effect (listen to the chord at 3:28 and pay attention to the high register):

Finally, I want to go off the track a bit (though I hope it's still relevant) and close with some music from another composer who was a master at "masking" dissonances via orchestration, a composer who greatly influenced Williams and other Hollywood composers - namely, Korngold. His opera "Das Wunder der Heliane" closes with the two lovers making their way into heaven through the pearly gates, being welcomed by the sound of singing angels. But if you listen to it, there's a distinctly bittersweet tone coming from the orchestra:

It's almost like the angels merely represent a "sheen" of something that is filled with sadness and sorrow. The reason is that the orchestral accompaniment is in fact full of dissonances - try playing some of those chords which fall on the downbeat. There are instances earlier in the opera where Korngold plays a major chord on top of a minor chord, though it's barely audible the way he orchestrates it.

I can't get over the changes to my favorite song, "One Jump Ahead"... The bit at 0:44 for instance would have benefited greatly from NOT having that stupid drum beat and electric guitar underneath it. And, maybe having some of the cast sing actual notes every now and then would have been nice. It just sounds absolutely terrible.

Compare Will Smith's "Friend Like Me" to Robin Williams'. Williams actually manages to sing the pitches of the song, while still remaining incredibly entertaining. Will Smith is not only boring, but he does this rap-esque speak-singing that is unfortunately rampant in so many of these songs as well as in today's music in general. If he wanted to switch things up later in the song that's one thing, but it would have been nice to hear him sing the actual melody properly once, at least for the people who aren't already familiar with the tunes and are trying to get a grasp on how the song goes...

Also not thrilled by how the final track, "Friend Like Me (Finale)" is actually just the orchestral backing of part of the album's earlier Will Smith version. A bit deceptive to not have "(Instrumental)" instead of "(Finale)" next to the title IMO, when we're not actually getting anything new. It would have been nice to get a proper instrumental arrangement of the tune. Sadly, one listen to it and you can instantly tell the melody is missing. (Which makes it even more egregious that Will Smith didn't bother to sing the melody in the song track—without the singer, in some spots there is literally no one playing the tune!)

Listened to it and the album sounds horrible. I know they were going for a modern sound but, damn, there is so much bass at times that it drowns out the lyrics. Even the score tracks don't escape the waves of bass overkill. It's just not a pleasant album to listen too.

I've enjoyed these remakes mostly, not loved them but enjoyed them and was really excited for Aladdin, since it is one of my favorite Disney movies. They've butchered these songs on the album so I don't hold out much hope for the movie, which is really disappointing.

Man, those songs are terrible. I mean the new takes. Of all the Disney remakes to attempt, this is the one that should've been thrown out first. Nobody can ever replace Robin Williams, and Will Smith's showing (just from a few clips) looks like a disgrace to the original.

Dissapotining that Menken has been reverted to polishing previous original music.

Will Smith singing is absolutely horrible. He really does look really bad and the movie looks like garbage.

And what's shocking - I have seen Alladin on Broadway and it is genuinely a good show. It is entertaining and big and there are so many set-pieces. I thought this should translate to live action big screen pretty easily. Apparently not.

Looks like the completely butchered the film. I actually like the animated original and the score is an absolute classic - not just the songs but the score proper too.

Inspired by @Loert's thread on "The Map Room: Dawn," I wanted to ask if there are any particular examples orchestration being used to kind of mask dissonances in John's music.
Often, you get the sense that his music is considered very straightforward, even "pop" by many for it's listenability, accessibility, and melodic recognizability, but, when you listen closely, and espeiclly when you hear a piano reduction, for example, the striking harmonic invention and complexity behind this facade, if you will, becomes apparent. It is almost as if John has achieved the perfect synthesis between romantic traditions and modernist developments in music.
How big a role does this idea of orchestration used to mask dissonance, which was brought up in the aforementioned thread, play in all of this?

Just heard the the piece, and I was surprised for sure. John is on top form these days. The quality and the nuance of the writing is staggering. Hedwig's Theme never did much for me in the past, but here, John really draws the most out of the material. In these recent arrangements, it would seem he trying to write a definitive musical statement. And he is marvelously blending his characteristic sense of melody and harmony with what is to my ears a new, commanding mastery of form.

You know, this rather reminds me of Bach's later career. After years of putting extraordinary effort into writing music of above and beyond quality for his employers, Bach set himself down and, recycling some of what he had before, produced some exquisitely structured masterworks for posterity.
Perhaps John is indeed doing the same here.

It's definitely fascinating to witness the journey of this almost 90 years old artist. He truly seems a contemporary version of Haydn, or Brahms.

What's also interesting is JW using a quite established classical vehicle and applying it to his own material. In some ways, it almost seems as if he's putting his own spin to the works of someone else, like the classical Carmen Fantasy by Sarasate--but he's actually making a fantasia for soloist from material written by himself